We are big fans of the blogosphere over here at Alto Marketing, as we hope you can see from our regular updates. We are also keen to keep developing our PR strategy through our blog, something we also help our clients with.

Recently we’ve been discussing the merits of guest blogging, and as far as we can tell, it’s a win-win-win situation:

Winner one: The recipient blog

Freshen up your blog by having someone else contribute, bringing a fresh perspective and novel expertise to the content you are sharing. We’ve done this by getting an editor’s view point on the ever-changing landscape of science PR and marketing, but why not get a customer to report on their latest research findings via your blog (there’s a good chance they’ll mention your products while they’re at it). Take a look at our guest blog from Phil Prime, Editor of Lab News.

Winner two: The guest blogger

By sharing their content on your blog, the guest blogger has the opportunity to reach a whole new audience. There is nothing to stop them linking to their own blog while writing for you, and this can be a great way to increase their personal following. Just as importantly, interacting with other people (and their blogs) is one of the main reasons for blogging in the first place – to start up interesting conversations. Guest blogging is not so dissimilar to leaving a comment, but it fosters a much stronger relationship between the guest blogger and their new blog-atriot.

Winner three: The readers

The real winners here are the readers. By teaming up, the blog-atriots open up a new avenue of expertise and insight for the readers to benefit from, providing new perspectives they may never have found themselves while traversing the sea of opinion that is the World Wide Web.

Where next?

Got something interesting to say about science, healthcare, PR or marketing? Contact us now with your idea, and we’ll see about teaming up with you for a guest blog slot!

When I initially broached the idea of attending Arab Health in Dubai, I thought David (our Managing Director) would just see it as an excuse for me to get a bit of sunshine in January, rather than it being a truly useful event for us to attend. 

Fortunately he didn’t see it like that, and had he, he would have been wrong on both counts.  Not only was the weather unseasonably chilly for January in Dubai, but Arab Health is a fantastic healthcare event attended by over 70,000 visitors from 140 countries.

This was my first time at Arab Health and I was taken back by the sheer size of the exhibition – 14 halls packed full with a diverse range of organisations at the cutting edge of innovation in global healthcare. Arab Health is now the largest healthcare exhibition in the Middle East and the second largest in the world.  I spent two days ‘walking the floor’, and wearing out my feet, at Arab Health and its sister event MedLab, for manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of medical laboratory equipment, products and services.

I had a number of meetings with the media at the event, from international publications and websites such as Clinical Laboratory International, SelectScience and LabMedica, to regional publications like Africa Health, Middle East Health, Arab Medical Hygiene and Arab Health magazine.  I had also pre-arranged meetings with a number of exhibitors, many of whom were exhibiting through UK Trade and Investment which helps UK companies to realise their international business potential.

It was clear from talking to people at the event that the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council – made up of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar) faces many of the challenges faced within Europe such as increasing and ageing populations and the increased burden of diseases including diabetes.  However, in addition to this, it suffers from outdated healthcare systems.  This was clearly reflected in the range of products, services and solutions exhibiting at the event.  For example there was a strong focus on healthcare providers promoting their expertise in healthcare consultancy, design, construction, medical equipping, training and managing healthcare facilities.

All in all it was an excellent event that I can highly recommend to any company looking to enter the Middle East healthcare market.  My only words of advice would be to wear comfortable shoes and not to pack your flimsiest summer clothes – unless you want to take a trip to the vast Dubai Mall to buy something warmer!

Where next?

Take a look at our healthcare expertise.

As the cost of determining a patient’s genetic code is falling, the possibility that treatment plans for diseases such as cancer could be tailored to patients based on their individual genetic code is becoming more realistic.

A news story on the BBC stated that ‘putting genetic testing at the heart of the NHS could herald a revolution in diagnosing, treating and preventing disease’. One of the current issues with modern healthcare approaches is that the definition of any disease is too broad. For example, breast cancer is always defined by the location of the tumour – in the breast – however many of these cancers are very different from one another on a molecular level. And in order to determine the best treatment plan, it is the molecular level, rather than the physical location, that is important.

Cancers are especially tricky to treat and essentially cure due to the ability of cancer cells to mutate, proliferate, and metastasize, at such great speed. By identifying which genes are active within any given tumour, treatment programmes can be more effectively tailored. This is already the case for a select few treatments, such as the drug Herceptin, which only works if the patient has a mutation that causes the overexpression of HER2 – a protein which regulates cell growth, survival, adhesion, migration and differentiation.

As the field of genetics continues to advance, it is great to see the ‘real world’ implications of such work. However, as with any significant research, there are potential negatives. One of the proposed ideas is for a national centre which could store genetic information about patients who were sequenced. This would allow doctors to have a point of comparison when determining the treatment plan for new patients, although by informing patients of other diseases that they are at high or low risk of could open a can of worms… and law suits when predications turn out to be wrong.

What are your thoughts on the future of genetic testing?

We thought that we should also let you know that Alto Marketing does have a professional interest in this field, as genetic testing is our client OGT’s area of expertise.

Where next?

Take a look at our complete client list

In a paper published last month in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, scientists at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, reported the results of their research into the beneficial aspects of wearing tight, stretchy materials rather than loose fitting shorts and leggings when performing exercise.

The data suggest that the wearing of tight materials such as spandex can assist recovery after high-intensity exercise by helping to reduce lactate build up in the blood. Lactate is a natural by-product of intense exercise, but it can inhibit muscle performance if it builds up. Presumably, wearing materials that compress the muscles improves blood flow, helping to circulate the blood and reduce lactate levels faster, which boosts recovery time.

So, now there are two good reasons to wear Spandex to the gym. It has always looked great, but now it is good for you too!

Original image source

Where next?

Why not meet the team at Alto Marketing to find out more about the serious side of our science expertise…

Yesterday I journeyed back in time to my old stomping ground, Southampton Solent University, as part of an invitation to talk to the current PR & Communications students.

As part of the university’s “Meet the Alumni” workshops I, along with graduates from previous years, was invited to talk to the current students about life after university and how we came to be where we are now. I’ll admit I was a bit shocked to realise that it had in fact been four years since I sat in a lecture hall!

After a quick introductory session where us graduates took it in turns to regale our career history so far, we adjourned to the lovely new Solent Creatives suite where we had the opportunity to sit with small groups of students and answer any questions they had. I found myself discussing the benefits of in-house vs. agency and the importance of being clued up on social media, as well as learning a thing or two myself about EU work permit regulations!

It was eye opening to see just how far the university has come since I first stepped through those doors in 2005, not long after it first gained actual university status in fact. The course itself has evolved too, reflecting on trends within the industry and focusing on truly relevant topics that will serve any PR practitioner well. It makes me wish I was still there and has got me thinking about taking the next step in my PR education by embarking on a Master’s degree – watch this space!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable afternoon meeting the PROs of the future – we’ve got some good graduates on their way!

Where next?

Check out some more of the Alto Marketing blogs.

We’ve been busy here at Alto Marketing during our first couple of weeks back. Not only have we been working hard with our clients but we’ve also been evaluating and re-drafting our website to reflect the latest trends in the industry.

Following good SEO practice, the Alto Marketing site is updated on an almost daily basis, with news, blogs and Tweets. Now, combining our new keywords and search terms with our practical experience and ongoing training, we’re going to be regularly updating the pages of our website over the next couple of months, starting today with our home page. Look out for other tools such as QR Codes and Wordles making an appearance too!

Check back regularly to see what’s new or you can stay updated about our developments changes through our Twitter feed.

Where next?

Alto Marketing’s new homepage

Alto Marketing’s services

I read with interest in the latest HES newsletter a discussion on the recent findings of the world’s largest trial on assistive technologies and the potential for delivering savings to the NHS.

The Department of Health’s Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) programme was set up in May 2008 to show just what telehealth and telecare can achieve. The initial findings of this programme underline how people with long term conditions (eg COPD, diabetes & heart problems) can be supported by such technology to live independently, take control and be responsible for their own health and care. Indeed, “…if delivered properly, telehealth can substantially reduce mortality, reduce the need for admissions to hospital, lower the number of bed days spent in hospital and reduce the time spent in A&E.”

Read the HES article in full.

Where next?

Check out our in-house healthcare expertise

At Alto Marketing, we don’t like to stand still. 2011 was no different and saw us develop our current methods and incorporate some new ideas into the PR and advertising campaigns we manage for our healthcare and life science clients:

• Optimised for the web

Our PR writing and management team are always up-to-date with the very latest techniques for optimising content for the internet – read the blog post on our experience to share some of our insights.

• Hyperlinks

Much of what we write for our clients – press releases, articles, adverts etc – is targeted for the web. To make this content as useful as possible for readers, we now always include relevant hyperlinks to pages, products and external sites. As a bonus, these can boost the ranking of your site by creating inbound links!

• Keeping track of web visits

In 2011 we have been using trackable web links, which we have put in everything from articles, to press releases and QR codes. Expect more of this in 2012, as we help you to better analyse ROI across all your PR and marketing materials.

• QR codes – merging the world of print and online

This year we have been using QR codes more and more. They have allowed us to track web visits from people who have read our content in a print publication and then scanned the trackable QR code using their smartphone. OK, they might be an interim technology, but they are still in use right now – see our blog on upcoming technology.

• Blogging for success and going social

In 2011 we further developed our blog and encouraged our clients to do the same. Blogs allow you to constantly update your site with new content (Google likes this) and can be an excellent way to share your news, expertise or personality with current and potential customers. We now regularly blog on everything from science to marketing to our latest charity work. We are also keeping a close eye on all the latest developments in social media marketing, utilising all the tools available to help our clients successfully reach their target audiences. Check out our blog now to find out more.

• (New) Tools of the trade

We use a wide variety of tools to optimise our PR and marketing programmes. These include word clouds for assessing keyword density, QR code generators for creating attractive, high resolution QR codes and more. In 2012, we will be adding a whole new section to our website, showing you our favourite tools, what they do and how to use them.

Where next?

Find out how the four pillars underpinning our strategy can raise your PR and marketing programmes to a new level

It isn’t often that a health promotion ad is so entertaining that it becomes widely reported in the national news, but in the UK today there is considerable coverage of this new British Heart Foundation ad.

The ad, featuring ex-footballer and Hollywood superstar Vinnie Jones, promotes the use of chest compressions in CPR rather than mouth to mouth resuscitation.  To make sure that the speed of the compressions is right, the ad suggests that people should hum along to the Bee Gees hit ‘Stayin’ Alive’ while they undertake CPR.

Have a look at the ad – it has been executed brilliantly and will certainly stick in my mind.

Where next?

Check out our in-house healthcare expertise.

The Alto Marketing office was brimming with rested and bright eyed faces following a Christmas break spent with friends and families. Ready for the challenge of a new year, following a quick catch up and the packing away of our decorations until next Christmas, the hard work begins.

As everybody is busy planning a productive 2012, the office has spent the morning in near silence, with the exception of a rather loud and nasty looking storm. With many new product launches and exciting events already in our diaries, keep a close eye on our website for further details, news and blog posts and feel free to contact us here at Alto Marketing if we can help you in any way.

Finally all the Alto team would like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!